This invention is that of an orthopedic pillow, i.e., a pillow that can be adjusted to the specific occipito-cervico-dorsal shape of its user to make optimal relaxation of his perivertibral muscles possible.
Numerous pillows have already been described and some marketed to attempt to "provide optimal relaxation of the perivertebral muscles of the user," but none is adjustable to the particular morphology of each individual.
The applicant has carefully considered the problem of adapting a pillow to the particular morphology of its user after having studied the basic shape that is best suited for human rest.
It is increasingly known that postural supports have a great importance in the physiology of rest and in particular cervical supports.
The rachis of a living being is sinusoidal. But apart from any muscular tone, the vertebral column is straight as dorsal decubitus post-mortem studies show.
Simple clinical observation of a standing subject shows a series of lordosis and kyphosis; these latter result mainly from muscular tone which provides at the same time mobility and the physiological limits of the various vertebral segments.
The large amplitudes of the cervical movements and their physiological limits depend especially on the cervical muscles. At the level of the cervical rachis, normally lordotic, all of the vertebrae provide insertion to very many functionally specific muscles; the latter assure at the same time great mobility and postural support of the head throughout the period of wakefulness Maintenance of these functional units involves an effective, recuperative and daily relaxation of the muscles under their optimal conditions of rest.
Cervical lordosis exists naturally on a body in decubitus. Appropriate support of this curvature reduces the activity of the cervical muscles. It makes possible a gain in recuperation during sleep. The sensation of comfort by the subject is one of the evidences.
A large number of long muscles of the back are inserted at the same time at the cervical, dorsal and even lumbar level. The relaxing of the cervical region is thus at the origin of a gain in nocturnal relaxation for all of these pluriarticular muscles. This relaxation is all the more effective as the support structure is used in the various positions of the sleeper, without interfering with the movements of the head and of the body. These movements actually make possible an alternate rest of numerous muscles which would barely be relaxed otherwise.
The neck is comparable to the foot, it has a curvature and length which vary from one person to the next. The applicant observes five major cervical morphotypes:
FLEXIBLE and MOBILE necks whose curvature is standard. They correspond to the normal head bearing of an athlete.
STIFF necks whose curvature is not very pronounced. They correspond to an indistinct cervical lordosis (radiological straight necks).
HYPERLORDOTIC necks. It involves an accentuation of the physiological curvature regardless of the cause.
SHORT necks of the brachycervicals. The musculature of the subject hides his physiological lordosis which can appear only with an X-ray.
ATYPICAL necks that do not fit into any of the above categories.